Chapter 9

Become a Legendary Necromancer - Chapter 009

Craaaack!

Space began to distort.

A new entrance had appeared where the entrance to the original Boss Room had been.

Before entering.

I took one last look around.

Scorpion bones were scattered all over the desert.

After defeating the Scorpions, I had steadily absorbed their souls using Soul Devouring.

[Proficiency: 55%]

Thanks to that, I had increased my proficiency by more than 30% since entering this Gate.

'Not bad.'

With that, I walked through the entrance.

Clatter— Clatter—

I could hear the Skeletons following behind me.

But only for a moment.

[Transporting you to the Hidden Boss Room.]

Flash!

The transportation began.

_____________

Hidden Routes can be broadly divided into two types.

One type allows you to obtain items without doing anything.

The other requires you to defeat something.

And if it's the latter, it can be divided into two further types.

One where you must defeat the same boss as usual.

And another where you must defeat an entirely new boss.

This Gate belonged to the former type.

In other words, the same boss that appeared in the original Boss Room would appear here.

I arrived in a fairly spacious clearing.

The sky stretched wide open overhead, but towering walls surrounded the area on every side.

They formed a complete circle.

It looked as though I had fallen to the bottom of a gigantic pit.

'So this is what the place looks like.'

I had only heard descriptions of it. This was my first time actually seeing it.

'Because nobody wanted to party with me.'

Before my regression, I had desperately wanted to enter this Gate.

After all, it was a place where I could gain an enormous amount of experience.

However, not a single person had been willing to form a party with me.

Everyone refused.

In truth, that was perfectly understandable.

'I couldn't use my Unique Skill or Mana Release, and I didn't even have a single other skill. Of course they wouldn't want me.'

From their perspective, I was no different from someone trying to get a free ride.

Nothing but a burden.

That was why I didn't resent them.

I would have done the same in their position.

Of course, I was only human... Even though I understood it logically, I couldn't help feeling hurt.

'Well, I did manage to enter eventually.'

I entered this Gate alone.

And rather than making it to the Boss Room, I killed just two Scorpions before leaving.

Even that had been a miracle.

'I was lucky the Scorpions were separated from each other... Otherwise, I would've left without killing even a single one.'

Back then, I had been extremely satisfied with that small accomplishment.

Because even the experience gained from killing two Scorpions had been precious to me.

Looking back now, it was almost laughable.

'I really lived like a pathetic idiot.'

Remembering those days made my mood sink for no particular reason.

It was at that moment.

Clatter, clatter!

The three Skeletons behind me walked out in front of me.

Clatter, clatter!

Then, completely out of nowhere, they started dancing.

They swung their arms wildly and shuffled their bony legs.

It was a chaotic dance without the slightest sense of rhythm or timing.

They looked utterly ridiculous.

When I turned my head toward Yulias...

[What's gotten into those guys all of a sudden? They're a bunch of strange fellows, aren't they?]

Tsk, tsk. He shook his head and looked away.

But judging by the way the flames in his eyes were trembling.

'He did that on purpose.'

Even without saying anything, I understood Yulias's intentions.

He had probably decided to play a little prank because I was feeling down.

Realizing what he was trying to do brought a smile to my face.

And Yulias was the same.

[Hehe!]

He gave me a bashful smile.

Only then did the Skeletons stop dancing.

It was also at that moment that a System message rang out.

[Defeat the King Orc.]

It seemed things were finally about to begin.

Naturally, Yulias's expression also became serious.

Since this Gate was so famous, information about the King Orc was also widely known.

The creature had a clear weak point.

'Its heart.'

However, hitting it wasn't easy.

Because the King Orc instinctively tried to protect that spot.

'It won't be easy for me, either.'

Hitting a weak point itself wasn't difficult.

After all, accuracy was what I was most confident in.

The problem lay in the 'speed' of my arrows.

The King Orc possessed more than enough reaction speed to respond to the arrows I fired.

'Well, I'll just have to slowly whittle down its health.'

It would take quite a while, but defeating the creature wouldn't be difficult.

At that moment.

Wooooong!

Pure white light gathered in one spot.

It rapidly began taking shape.

Before long, an enormous monster with dark brown skin, standing roughly five meters tall, appeared.

The King Orc.

“Yulias. Let's disable its arms first!”

[Yes, Honored Master!]

Clatter! Clatter!

The three Skeletons charged toward the King Orc.

I immediately began providing covering fire.

I fired arrows to allow the Skeletons to approach the King Orc.

Whoosh!

An arrow flew forward.

Crack!

The King Orc knocked the arrow away with its hand.

By the time I had fired about three more arrows.

The Skeletons had already closed in on the King Orc.

Clatter!

Suddenly, the Skeleton at the very front leaped toward the King Orc.

That was when the King Orc moved.

The King Orc reached toward the approaching Skeleton.

It swung its arm as though swatting away a fly.

Almost as if it were slapping someone across the face.

Whoooosh!

With a sound like the air being torn apart, the King Orc's arm swung toward the Skeleton.

Its arm struck the Skeleton directly.

Anyone watching would have thought the Skeleton would be smashed to pieces.

That was how overwhelming the force behind the King Orc's arm was.

However, that didn't happen.

Flash!

Light flashed from the Skeleton's body for an instant.

At the same time, I felt a large chunk of the mana inside my body disappear.

Iron Shield, the D-rank skill extracted from the Red Orc.

It had activated.

Iron Shield was a defensive skill capable of blocking attacks from other D-rank skills without difficulty.

That meant the King Orc, merely the boss of an F-rank Gate, was no match for it.

The King Orc's arm struck the Skeleton but failed to leave even a scratch.

And at that very moment.

Grab! Grab!

The remaining two Skeletons seized the King Orc's arm.

Then.

Crunch!

They twisted the arm until it snapped.

The arm bent in a direction it was never meant to bend and hung limply toward the ground.

“Graaaagh!”

The King Orc let out an agonized roar.

Meanwhile.

What the hell? We disabled one of its arms that easily?

Apparently, I had underestimated Yulias's abilities.

However, I didn't spend long dwelling on that thought.

“Yulias!”

[Yes.]

“Grab its other arm and its legs!”

[Yes, sir!]

I didn't bother giving detailed instructions.

Nevertheless, Yulias understood my intentions immediately.

The three Skeletons each grabbed hold of the King Orc's two feet and one remaining arm.

I was ready as well.

[Honored Master!]

At Yulias's shout, I immediately understood what he intended.

[Activating Curse of Weakness.]

[Deploying an area around the undead that reduces all stats by 20%.]

Wooooong!

An area extending roughly twenty meters around the Skeletons turned purple.

And I...

Creeeeak!

Immediately drew my bowstring.

Having used Iron Shield and Curse of Weakness.

I had consumed almost all the mana in my body.

Only enough remained to fire a single arrow.

What if I failed to kill the King Orc here?

Then I wouldn't be able to do anything else.

Even so, I didn't feel the slightest doubt.

Naturally, I aimed at the King Orc's heart.

Its weak point was completely exposed, utterly defenseless.

There was no need to explain what happened next.

It was far too easy.

It was practically the same as shooting at a stationary target. How could I possibly miss?

Whoosh!

The arrow flew.

Thud!

It struck the King Orc directly in the heart.

With a thunderous thud, the King Orc's enormous body toppled backward.

[You have defeated the King Orc.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have leveled up.]

My gaze unconsciously shifted toward Yulias.

Because, contrary to my expectations, we had defeated the King Orc far too easily.

There stood Yulias, his eyes curved into cheerful crescents.

[Hehe!]

Immediately afterward, System messages appeared one after another.

[You have completed the objective.]

[Republic of Korea Gate #21431 has been cleared.]

[Rewards will be distributed.]

[F-rank Magic Stone ×3]

[An achievement exceeding the original objective has been confirmed.]

[You have successfully cleared the Hidden Route.]

[Hidden rewards will be distributed.]

____________

The Awakened Integrated Bulletin Board.

Known for short as the 'Awakened Board.'

The Awakened Board was a shared online space used by Awakened from all over the world.

And right now, the entire board was in an uproar.

-Whoa, someone just discovered a Hidden Route. Holy shit.

-I'm seriously so jealous.

-The bastard who got the hidden reward just hit the jackpot, fuck.

-For real... Sigh. Why can't I ever get something like that?

-Everyone knows you have to have saved a country in your past life to discover a Hidden Route.

-So are you saying I can't discover one because I was a traitor who sold out my country?

-Yeah lol.

The reason the Awakened Board had gone into an uproar was a System 'Announcement.'

Whenever someone cleared a Hidden Route and obtained a hidden reward.

The System was configured to send an 'Announcement' to every Awakened.

[A Hidden Route has been cleared in the Republic of Korea.]

Like that.

Naturally, the identity of the person who cleared it wasn't displayed.

However.

The announcement also revealed what kind of item had been obtained as the hidden reward.

-Looking at the 'Numbering,' it's F-rank.

-Yeah, that guy's fucking lucky. How does some lowly F-rank nobody...

-Agreed, he's lucky. But the chance of discovering a Hidden Route is already ridiculously low, and he even obtained a Numbered Item on top of that. Holy shit.

-The nationality says Republic of Korea. Wonder who it is?

-I bet they're desperately searching for him, too.

-Shit, fuck! It should've been America!

Numbering.

These Numbered Items, numbered from 1 to 1,000, were so rare that only around a hundred had been revealed to the world so far.

That was just how rare they were.

Researchers had analyzed those hundred or so Numbered Items and discovered several rules.

The numbers written on the Numbered Items.

In other words, the grade of an item was determined by its number.

The number ranges were clearly defined.

Numbers 1,000 through 800 were F-rank.

Numbers 799 through 500 were E-rank.

And so on.

The lower the number, the higher the item's grade.

And as the grade increased, the number of items in that category decreased dramatically.

The highest-grade Numbered Item revealed to the world so far was an item in the 200s, ranked S.

The appearance of such an item was what had caused this commotion.

Even afterward, the Awakened Board continued burning with excitement.

As though things were only just getting started.

_____________

[You will be transported outside the Gate in 1 minute.]

[Time Remaining: 00:00:59]

Once the hidden rewards had been distributed, a System message announced that I would be transported out.

I immediately headed toward the King Orc.

Because there was still something I needed to do.

'I have to absorb the King Orc's soul.'

I hadn't entered this Gate simply to obtain the hidden reward.

'Although we ended up defeating the King Orc so ridiculously easily...'

This was also a Gate I had chosen specifically to store the King Orc in my Soul Inventory.

The King Orc possessed a rather useful attack skill.

'Well, I guess even the King Orc didn't expect to be defeated so easily, considering it never even got the chance to use its skill.'

Anyway.

[You have absorbed the King Orc's soul.]

[Would you like to store the King Orc's soul in the Soul Inventory?]

'Yes.'

The Red Orc's soul was stored in a free slot thanks to the special bonus.

That meant I still had one available slot in my Soul Inventory.

[The King Orc's soul has been stored in the Soul Inventory.]

[Proficiency in the Soul Devouring skill has increased.]

[Proficiency: 55% → 61%]

I opened the Soul Inventory.

Shing—

[Soul Inventory Status]

Currently Stored Souls: Red Orc (D), King Orc (F)

Extracted Skills: Iron Shield (D), Flame Strike (F)

“Got it!”

In the end, I had obtained everything I wanted from this Gate.

I had acquired a Numbered Item through the hidden reward.

I had reached Level 5.

And I had even obtained Flame Strike, an attack skill.

[You are being transported outside the Gate.]

And so, I headed out of the Gate feeling lighter than ever.